Snapshot of Welsh life reveals fall in satisfaction with secondary schools

A quarter of Welsh parents with children at secondary school are no longer satisfied with the school. That's one of the more startling statistics in the latest findings by the annual National Survey for Wales.

It appears to be a sudden decline, compared with last year and with four years ago, when then question was previously asked.

PARENTS' SATISFACTION WITH SECONDARY SCHOOLS

2012-13 83%

2013-14 85%

2016-17 85%

2017-18 75%

The fall in satisfaction with primary schools is much smaller -it's now 88%, down from 90% a year ago. It was 92% in earlier years.

Satisfaction with hospital care remains high at 90%, in line with previous years but satisfaction with GP care has dropped from 90% to 86% in the past 12 months. In particular, more and more patients find it difficult to get a convenient appointment to see a GP.

DIFFICULT TO GET A CONVENIENT GP APPOINTMENT

2012-13 33%

2013-14 38%

2014-15 37%

2016-17 38%

2017-18 42%

Other findings include that 86% of people are proud of the Welsh language -and that 62% of people who can't speak the language would like to do so. But only 40% of the population think that Welsh will be stronger in 10 years' time.

One possibly surprising set of figures concerns loneliness. It seems that older people are generally the least likely to feel lonely.

We already know that Welsh education is suffering the consequences of Labour’s financial mismanagement and a growing crisis in teacher recruitment.

But the National Survey for Wales appears to suggest that the public are losing faith in the Welsh Government’s ability to deliver improvements to education outcomes in Wales.

Children and young people only get one shot at their education and we must not let them down.

This should be a wake-up call for the Education Secretary, who must acknowledge the concerns of parents across Wales and deliver a robust plan to ensure that Wales has a thriving education system which helps our children to flourish.